3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)

[JbeJ275]

"Do we even know where on the island that is? If we had a target to hit I could just visit the apothecary and buy some scrolls from the college to cover the gaps in my arsenal. but if we're going to be spending hours tracking her down to a building resting might ensure we can do so quickly, and won't be too fatigued when we do. South channel island is a big place after all and if we're not on top form we might just make things worse. Also, the men going to vault six should really know about the corpse in the box. Get a priest or something there with them actually, it's the aforementioned ghost's body."

"And sir, say what you want about that monster but it's now beast. There's an intelligence in there, it's smarter than most people were in that vault, even if it seems to not engagee in the most complex tactics, I didn't have time for many other divinations though, what do you know about this creatures nature and origins anyway. From the involvement of the codex I'm guessing it's at least in part demonic?

[Molan]

Fox held up his hands to slow everyone down a bit.

"No worries, no worries at all friends. I've got more than a few surprises in store for you. First of all, I've got this wagon over here," he gestured to a large, luxurious (if aged and worn) wagon waiting on the other side of the street, "the driver of which will take you back to the docks where we've got our medical office reopened. We'll get you fixed up and right as rain. Now that the Vaults are back open for business, we're going to be able to start reopening Merchants guild retail shops; I'll make sure you all can shop at a discount."

He held the enchanted dagger in his hand, shaking it and feeling his weight.

"Do you all know what this is? It's a pretty interesting piece you managed to pick up. This knife is called Sudden Death, it was made by the Archmage Amora Tren at the behest of a rival noble well over a hundred years ago. It's got quite an ugly history. It passed hands between a lot of Gotham's most notorious assassins. Sounds like that hasn't changed much today."

"Was part of that history that one of the assassins killed Amora Tren with it?"

"No," Fox replied smiling. "But ironically she was actually stabbed to death."

Everyone sort of nodded slowly, and Fox chuckled and moved on.

"Anyway, point is, there's an incredible amount of arcana you all have unleashed. Our vendors will have a ton of new hardware, potions and other tools for you to use. In addition, you're all owed some payment."

They made their way over to the armored carriage that Fox was using to carry the guild's payroll, and he removed several bags from inside of it, handing one each to every member of the party. They opened the bags up, and Spoiler nearly gagged. Inside were eight hundred platinum pieces.

"I know it's quite a lot, but I can't underscore enough what a huge deal this is. You know, when the Waynes were still in power, they fought hard to keep power in this city diffuse and worked hard to make sure there was work for everyone. But the nobles in this town don't care about anything other than accumulating as much money and power as they can get their hands on. There hasn't been legitimate work in this part of midtown for a long, long time. Your actions today have really made a difference."

As they continued to talk, Damien produced the Codex, and Alfred turned to address the party.

"If you all are still interested in tracking that monster, I'm beginning to think we might just need your help."

"Are you beginning to think that because we just saved your bacon?" Damien quipped.

"Yes, actually, not to put too fine a point on it." Alfred chuckled. "Listen. It's of huge importance that we find a way to stop this monster. This book," he tapped his armored hand over the golden cover of the Codex.=, "Is the first piece of that puzzle. If there's any chance you might be interested, after you've visited Lord Fox's medics, I think I might have a better place for you all to sleep tonight than wherever you're currently holed up. And we might have a few resources that will help you on your missions."

Damien's eyes narrowed.

"Pennyworth, are you sure about this?"

Alfred shrugged.

"We're running out of options, young Master Wayne. We need help. And we can help these fine young adventurers too. I think it makes sense."

"What are you two going on about?" Barbara challenged.

"I'd like to offer you some upgraded lodgings, and perhaps a base of operations, in exchange for your help hunting this monster. And there's someone I think you should meet, someone who might just be able to help you on your quests."

Damien grinned.

"Any of you silly mooks interested in meeting Bruce Wayne?"

[JbeJ275]

Barabara recieved the praise politely but stuffly, put off by a few things that were said but showing little of it, much of it of course was welcome, the availibility of arcane supllies was always an issue, and crafting took up valuble time and so she'd never ended up really learning how, building up a better more full arsenal of spell scrolls and wands was becoming a must do. Especially with the rather direct reminder of what happened to arcanists who tangled with the powerful when said arcanists were insufficiently prepared. The Eight hundred platinum pieces were a welcome change as well, initially she was unsure about this mercenary work, but such tresures would help her greatly, and the reminder she could still do good was welcome too. That said, whether justicars could no longer safely recruit from some areas or whether the local justicars were (probably rather fairly) no longer considered legitimate did sting a little.

Of course then Pennyworth and the kid, shot knowing looks at each other that immedietly put her on guard. One hand opening to ready for some spell before she remembered herself and pulled it back and just asked them verbaly, holding back her mistrust. Then of course, they had to bring that name up...

"Frankly I think I'm fine without, rich cowardly hedonists make great sponsors, as I assume that's what this is, but you can keep me out of the gladhandling side of things."

[JoyWonderLove]

“South Channel Island...I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that before. That’s perfect! A friend of mine is actually on a little hiatus there. All to relax and reconnect with her music. She’s normally got an ear for anything big going on nearby, and frankly, I’ve been itching for an excuse to see her. We pop by, she drops some leads, Verena’s out by nightfall. Easy.”

Spoiler had no pressing desire to explain that her friend was laying low due to Bard Guild racketeering, and the lapdogs in the law that enforced monopolies on their behalf. Let alone that it was rarely easy to find anyone avoiding the limelight, because she wasn’t altogether certain Robyn had ignored the siren call of the crowd. The biggest appeal of the fey island was precisely that the average Gothamite didn’t feel overly welcome there, so the usual predators had far less sway there. She might well have performed to her heart’s yearning without being hassled once.

***

When Spoiler stared in the sack at solid platinum coins minted with the Gotham bank of Cobblepot symbol on them, she grew quiet in stupefied awe. A smile cracked beneath the already cracked mouth mask as Fox mentioned the Waynes and diffusion of power, and it exploded into a grin as he said something about making a difference. The knight started blabbing about that golden, chained up library book, but a laugh had already started to build louder and harder until she threw her head back in ecstatic abandon. She had instantly become the wealthiest woman in all the Narrows combined, and all her tiredness was banished with the massive windfall.

“Yes! Oh, all of my sweet hearths in heaven, yes. Dear loving Estanna, yes. If this is what goin’ legit feels like, I should’ve thrown in with the gold and grey years ago!”

Hugging the bag of platinum freedom to her breast as a babe to a mother, Spoiler rocked it side to side with much the same loving enthusiasm. Sir Pennyworth and Damien were prattling about suicidal monster hunts and accommodations, but she only had eyes for her jingling sack of joy.

“First momma’s gonna put you inna bank!” Spoiler kissed the bag sweetly. “Den you’re gonna make momma some bank! Yez you are, my lil pumpkin pie. Oh, we’re gonna help so many people, sweetie.”

Looking over at the knight but clutching the bag tighter now lest anyone get idiotic ideas that would cost them a spleen, Spoiler heard the full end of the conversation between the knight and scion sound similar enough to its beginning. She winched when Oracle laid into Bruce all too honestly before the same son that had proven himself remarkably brave and even compassionate, but couldn’t think of anything kind to soften the harshness. Everyone in Gotham knew it was true.

“That thing we saw in the Vaults...it’s definitely a huge danger to Gotham. I’d be happy to help you figure out weaknesses; maybe even track down its lair. But I’m not about to sign up for anything else. We all saw how easily it went through Dent’s men, and they had firepower way above average. It’d take a small army to put the monster down permanently.” Spoiler paused. “Still, you’re saying I get to meet an actual prince? The real guy that’s supposed to be running all this?”

Spoiler didn’t particularly like Bruce Wayne, the Gotham wide womanizing and drunken disappointment that he was. She hadn’t even thought of him as true royalty until the words had fallen out of Dent’s mouth earlier, of all the people. But she already would never have to worry for food or shelter again in her entire life, with a few savvy investments, and would still have plenty left to help others. Beyond there being worse tales to tell, she might even secure a pardon for her fey friend.

“Robyn’s gonna absolutely flip. I’m in.”

[MrAbdiel]

Damien embarks on a tour of emotions that are displayed plainly on his face with all the high fidelity performance of a child who has only a focused technique, and not a lifetime of moderating memories, to normally mask them. Bafflement first; then woundedness sliding into exasperation; and finally a sudden metamorphosis to a scowl of anger that hardens on his features so securely it seems to deserve an audible snap.

“…How dare you!” The response, a shout compressed by force down to a normal speaking volume, is boiling with wrath undercut as always by his prepubescence. “We just shed blood together - ours, and our enemies. We saved Alfred’s life, and he dragged you blinking and delusional out of the path of death back there, in case that slipped your memory. And my father,” he leans on the word emphatically, “has sacrificed and given more of himself for this city than any man living or dead. And you won’t even honor him with a meeting? What manner of foolish dilettante are you? My father is not without flaws, but he did not raise a child to flatly insult someone else’s with such bald knavery, as yours clearly has!”

[JbeJ275]

"And for that, you have my respect, both of you." Says barbara through painfully gritten teeth. "But he doesn't have mine, and given how I hadn't heard of a Wayne scion until tonight for all of his lechery I'm not convinced you have his. She shouts back, immedietly going way too far, but not noticing in her anger.

"He seems to have good intentions and that makes him better than most nobles in this stinking city, but he's still a coward, in the best position to fight for this city at the top, in a better position than my.... URGGH."

With that Barbara storms off directly at the side of a building lining one side of the square, sack of platinum in hand, before weaving her hands and disappearing just as she made contact with it, a bat appearing her in her place. Most of the poeple in the square are then likely to hear an angry shriek, likely from a nearby rooftop, and the clattering sound of something being kicked in frustration.

[MrAbdiel]

The kid is already puffing up, preparing a reprisal before Oracle takes the last, frustration sheared word. He looks like he’s ready to go swinging after the bat, but then Titus is there, detecting his master’s distress, bonking him in the back with the top of his skull before skittering in a tight confused circle, as if to say ‘what? What is it? Who are we fighting?’

That’s enough to bring the scion back from the edge of folly, and he gives the jowly beast a reassuring scratch.

“…Well. One less plate at the table tonight then, Pennyworth.”

[Molan]

"Well, that's a shame." Pennyworth lamented. "Still, can't blame a lass for standing by her convictions. I'm glad to know that there are at least some other people besides ourselves on the streets of Gotham who hope to do some good. At any rate, you all must be tired. Shall we retire to Lord Fox's medical tent? It'll take a couple of days for the Guild to start getting everything running here in Fort Clinton. I can make sure you've got upgraded accommodations till then, besides which, we can decide our next moves. Madam, what say you? Will you be joining us?"

He gestured towards Kate, looking for an indication to where she stood.

[Feathersnow]

"For me, whatever I may or may not know about Lord Wayne, we are blood, and what is more, I am a chevaliesse and he is a prince. It should go without saying I will at least meet with him. Though I must confess I am unsure as to why he would share interest with ones such as us."

Frankly, Kate was sympathetic to Barbara 's position, and her respect for Master Wayne slipped at his apparently unfounded father-worship. Buy she needed allies, and it was against her nature to be openly rude, an inclination cemented through years of military service.

[JoyWonderLove]

The sai had ended up in Spoiler’s right hand agitatedly, left clutching the sack to her breast defensively as the argument ensued, despite nothing for clear danger being nearby. Whatever hopeful look was given when Kate began was snatched soon after; no hard edged military wisdom calling for unity had come even after Oracle had disappeared up the rooftops. Batwoman simply was the loyal, tireless, little vassal. A tightening in her gut and the subtle tange of bitterness told her this was an ugly turn. Something valuable was in danger of being lost here, but she couldn’t say exactly what, or even for who. Suddenly the sai had been replaced with the automatic grappling hook as she wandered away checking at the buttons of the fancy tool. Unsure how many button presses did what, she still pointed high at the building gargoyle besides and above where the angry shout had roughly come from. A sound utterly pleased slipped out when the rod’s claw grip lodged itself exactly where she intended on the statue far above; a hard shot even with a crossbow.

“Huh, so how do I –”

Then Spoiler was yanked off her feet, heart racing and face squinting as the wind buffetted, and her body instinctively became as tense and slender as the teak rod coaxing her dutifully through the air. Faces below blurred and the stone gargoyles rushed closer, but all she felt was exultation as she was lifted, rising, soaring above all others. Cape. I definitely need a cape, the thought floated through her head even as she cleared the rooftop she saw her target on, and had the mind to press the same little button again as it’s grip diligently let go, and she was suddenly weightless for only too short a time. Gently she arched up, before the rooftop proper came closer and closer to greet her.

Meeting it by tucking herself into a little ball, Spoiler still bounced, swore and skittered a little to a stop with a soft groan, but bounded back up almost immediately with a triumphant laugh. She threw off her cracked mask quickly after, revealing a face flushed and grinning like she just pulled off the heist of the year. She jogged over to the upset heiress with all the aplomb of finishing a victory lap.

“Okay, I got his rod, and we got our platinum!” Stephanie held the fastened bag aloft in one hand, and the fancy stick in the other when she was closer to her friend. “Night shift done, and now it’s all sunshine. Wanna go to Uptown, flash a little plat, and take a ton o’ joyrides in carriages we were never gonna buy anyway? Or throw on a buncha disguises and see how many morons in the Narrows Rogues and Thieves Guild we can get to buy us free drinks, before we lure em into ambushes?” The rod was thrown up in the air and it twirled like a baton before the awaiting purple glove snatched it handily on its fall back. “Hell, we can even talk how Brucey must be living the dream. Trotting out his own love child to scrap together enough coppers to cover whatever debts taking laps in Chardonnay has gotten him into. What’d’ya feel like, Barb?”

[JbeJ275]

At this point Barabara had dragged her own mask off as well, and is holding it crumpled in one hand as she looks out over the city, her mist steaming in the cold air around them. Her hands were dancing in the same intricate patterns accosiated with spellcasting, but the lack of any of the sigils accosiated with her regular casting showed this was just to calm herself not to produce any greater effect. She breathed heavily for a few more moments before turning to face Stephanie and clearly forcing herself into something like a grin.

"Sure Steph, that sounds great right now, actually if you want to come to my townhouse I have a Fries-er full of... I don't know if you'd have heard of it, ice cream? I could really go through a bowl or four of that right now." With that said, she started walking to the ledge of the roof, reaching to put her mask back on before pausing and speaking again. "Look... I know he smart thing to do right now is just swallow my pride and go there, and I know it's not Damien's fault that his dad sucks but I swear if I have to play loyal retainer to that smug prick in person... I'll probably end up breaking something. I'm just saying it's not to late Steph if you do the smart thing and enjoy a fancy meeting on his coin. Or if you want ice cream wine and to forget about that stuff for a night, I'm all for it.

[JoyWonderLove]

Stephanie rolled her eyes amusedly, lips wry for the over-achiever's insistence on mulling over smart plays with little mention of how she felt about the issue. “Ever the valedictorian. Why act the loyal retainer when Oracle is clearly of the Mage College? Why play it smart when you can always play for keeps?”

The teak twirled in deft hand as Stephanie happily considered her friend openly, making no movement at putting her own mask back on. “Bruce’s kid and Grandfather Crossbow down there wouldn’t exactly be hitting on mercenaries, only two days deep in the job by the by, unless we’re somehow completely exceptional, or the Waynes are sliding so far down the social ladder that they’re strapped for choices. Maybe both. Either way, advantage: yours. And this is before they know your name. So if they pissed you off, you can always rock up, make a power play by keeping the mask on anyway, and hearing them out. If they suck half as hard as you think, or worse, that’s crucial to know in your position, right? Use what you learn to make an important, informed choice about who your House should really be backing in the future. If anyone deserves backing at all.”

Stephanie shrugged contently. “Or you skip out on the whole future kingmaker thing and instead show me what freezers and ice cream are. Me, you and Kate did just fine the night before, and no one would even know about Verena if it wasn’t for you. Plus, I’ve already got Damien’s grappling hook, and enough platinum to bribe Robyn free of spooky fey island right this instant. So don't sweat the smart call. What feels right?”

[JbeJ275]

"I don't know any more, fighting with you and Kate these past few days has felt right, actually bringing in the information and making plans has felt right, but we have so much more room to do that if we actually get this guy to loosen his purse strings a little more... he’s clearly not stingy but a lot of the stuff we need is really expensive and if he's a Jackass at least I can have a good yell at him before I go... okay you got me. I'll go and see if I can put up with smug and smugger for an hour. Just promise me that if I go to do anything dumb you'll try and stop me before I try treason.

With that Barbara looked for a way down the building, heading for the medical tent first and looking to meet up with the others only after that.

[Molan]

With Barbara's concerns placated -- at least temporarily -- she and Stephanie agreed to take Fox's carriage back to the docks, and the party was greeted by number of alchemists, healer's and for-hire clerics in the medical tent, where they saw to the party's injuries.

All patched up, the party prepared to depart. Alfred led them out to a carriage of his own; this one was massive, triple-axled, all black with a team of six massive ebony destriers lined up to pull it. It was hard not to miss the carved onyx insignia of House Wayne emblazoned on it's sides.

"This'll be our ride, if you please."

Before the party embarked, Fox stopped one last time to thank them.

"I can't tell you enough how much your efforts meant to us. When we met last week I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to trust you all. But you've saved the Guild, and with it, an opportunity the people of Fort Clinton have been waiting for a long time. I promise I'll try hard to make you all proud. Now, this might sound like some bald faced profiteering, but I hope you'll come back and visit us once you've gotten the chance to rest and recoup. We should have our new vendors up within a couple days; I think we might just have some tools that'll help you out on your journey. Twelve's Blessings."

The carriage took off, the weary group bumping along for the ride, ready for sleep but still no quite free to doze. The carriage departed Fort Clinton via the Clinton Bridge, which cut over the Gotham River into Downtown. As the entered the southernmost major island of the city, they entered Cobble Hill, and the scenery changed dramatically. Gone were the drab run down apartment buildings and warehouses of the slums; this was a place of sprawling fortified mansions, palaces and keeps. The roads were lined with tall, spiked iron fences. Faerie Fire lanterns lined the boulevards, still glowing white from the previous evening's enchantments, and everywhere they looked out the windows they could see the signs of immense power, privilege and money. It was also a dark, menacing place, as Cobble Hill itself knew that strangers had wandered uninvited into it's midst, and wanted them gone. Among the human aristocrats beginning to emerge from their manses, the party saw a surprisingly large number of gray dwarves on the street as well, further enhancing the unreal feeling in this part of town.

But the trip through Cobble Hill soon ended, as the Carriage turned onto Cavalry Bridge. Cavalry Bridge was a huge, long, massive stone structure that was rumored to predate the empire, and it swung far and impossibly far out into the waters of the great East River. Anyone who'd live in Gotham for even a short while knew the Cavalry Bridge led only one place -- to Wayne Island.

It loomed in the distance, tall and brooding, a single intimidating rock like a fist forcing it's way out of the waves. It was covered in trees, surrounded by a short wall, and at it's center was the massive, ancient fortress of the Waynes; Wayne Castle.



The Castle was incredible to look at. Old but mighty, run down but not crumbling, dark and covered in ivy and mostly unused, despite it's lingering grandeur. It eventually took up the entire view as they reached the other side of the bridge and several elderly looking Knight retainers opened the gates to let them in. Whatever waited for them inside, they were about to get a direct taste of Gotham's own history.

Once they disembarked, Alfred led them all inside to the great hall.

"I'll show you to your rooms," he said. "You're all probably exhausted. Don't feel any rush. We'll let you sleep and can have food prepared when you wake. Unless you have another preference, we can speak with Lord Wayne this evening. He's feeling a bit under the weather himself, so it might all just work out that way."

[JbeJ275]

Inside Barbara was seething, not only was she dragged out here in what aligned with her better judgement but went against her natural impulse but now she was being kept here for a day when she could be out trying to achieve something, or at least resting in the comfort of her own bed and making her way to this castle, so impressive and so thoughtlessly squandered by the braggart who lived there just like much else in the city, those thoughts left her pacing and angry for a while but eventually she calmed herself down, going over the new spell configuration's she had been testing, with the increasing subterfuge that caught up with her so quickly she decided to try out yet more powerful magics, it would push beyond her normal limits but neccesity was the mother of innovation. Once that was complete, she began to rest.

Once her rest was completed she strove to be among the first active, completing the preperation of her spells before heading back to the great hall and waiting there rather than in the preffered room. As the minutes ticked on and she made her way she steadily fought the impulses to scan the place for thinking beings, while it was a sensible precaution against criminlas it wouldn't do to insult one of the richest houses in gotham with her actions, besides, it made no sense for this to be an ambush by anyone sane. As one concession to her paranoia however she tried to ensure no-one else had any oppurtunity to infiltrate the place with a casting of Detect Secret Doors.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien elects to ride Titus alongside the carriage, rather than in it. The child is red faced and broody, locked in a battle of excessive juvenile passion and supernaturally developed discipline; and hunches in the saddle of the trotting hound. It is a mystery where the boy picked up such an intensity of brooding, from a father so famously libertine.

At one point on the journey, about two thirds of the way to the castle, he loudly and imperiously calls a halt to the journey for no discernible reason. Pennyworth speaks to him outside and there’s an arm flapping escalation of Damien’s frantic gesturing - at his belt, back toward the docks, wildly in exasperation at the sky impugning the gods for negligence; a turn-around swirl of one finger in the air and adamant gesture back to the docks, and then finally a slackness of posture as detective instincts finally catch up to his emotion-laden forebrain.

Then he is exploding through the wide flung carriage door, leaping in and scrambling across knees and laps; hot and indistinct variations of “give it back, I know you took it” babbling wildly from the tight baffled-pug countenance until his little grabby, graspy hands manage to snatch the teak rod from Spoiler’s person. With that, the frenzy is over as quickly as it began. He tumbles out of the carriage, slams the door, mounts up and gallops ahead of the party the rest of the way.

[Molan]

Spoiler: Oracle

Show

Barbara was the first one up; by the time she woke, it was already well past three in the afternoon. Once her powers began to flow through her body and out into the room around her, she started to get a stronger sense for the old fortress.

There was nothing magical in her room, other than what she had with her, which was a good sign if nothing else. But her spell almost immediately found a secret door, hidden behind thick mahogany panel walls that had been ornately carved with the image of a dark forest. She found the mechanism to operate the panel as part of the great carving; she pushed the image of the moon into the wall, and a mechanism clicked and the panel next to it slid forward. She pushed it to the side, and it effortlessly slid away, revealing a stony passage beyond, dusty and lined with unused torch sconces on one side and thin arrow slit windows on the other. She took a quick moment to pace down the hallway and found the backsides of several other doors; experience told her that this was one of likely several passages accessible from the castle's noble chambers that allowed it's former inhabitants to move from one room to another without entering the main areas of the building.

Satisfied that nothing nefarious was hiding behind her wall, she resealed the wall and pressed on into the outter corridord, looking for further disturbances. There was nothing obvious on their level, and she followed the narrow stone stairwell Alfred had led them up in the morning to return to the large ornate hallway the next level down. This one too was unlit, save light shining in through high up windows, and completely quiet and empty. Rows of suits of armor stood at attention all the way down the hall, and she checked each for discrepancies. Sure enough, between two particular suits of full plate, she found another hidden door, this one leading into an area that had clearly been reserved for the castle's servants, back when the Waynes were still employing any. She saw cleaning supplies, old stale food, and even some makeshift sleeping quarters. Back out into the main avenue, she found the great hall, checking that up and down as well.

There were, as it turned out, more than half a dozen ways out of the great hall. Besides the large main entrance, there were two side doors, both of which were obvious and visible, leading out of it. Secret doors led to the scullery behind where the Lord's Seat was positioned at the far end of the hall, but the kitchens were similar to the servant's quarters she'd seen -- mostly abandoned, with one small fire burning unattended in the kitchen hearth and another burning under a cauldron of something. At least some people still lived here, but there weren't many. The massive keep was mostly abandoned.

The other two secret doors leading out of the great hall were clearly for different purposes; one was a servant's passage, another had the looks of an escape route to allow castle defenders to move from one place to another undefended.

After assessing most of this, it quickly became clear to Barbara that the castle truly had two layouts; one was the obvious one that she saw when she'd walked in and was showed around by Alfred; large chambers and hallways, the kinds visitors would be shown. The second layout existed under and in between the first; a veritable maze of secret rooms and passages, embedded all throughout the castle, turning it into a labyrinth that only it's inhabitants would likely come to recognize. Still, she'd only visited a very small part of it; what else was this byzantine old place hiding from her?

[Feathersnow]

Kate sighs. When Pennyworth announces they have been summoned only to wait, she turns to Barbara. "Just like the army. Hurry up and wait. The sad truth is, we can probably do more good hearing out Lord Wayne than going on alone.

Although, honestly, I don't have much of a choice, he's one of my closest living relatives.

Just play nice, OK? Being out there with the two of you has been great, and, if Lord Wayne gives us a fraction of the help he can, things will be looking up. I might be able to do the kind if things I haven't since I had military artificers at my back and that back up my bravado the night we met."

[MrAbdiel]

Once ‘home’, Damien tore off into the grand halls with Titus bounding along after him, retreating into the vast mystery of the place and emerging, on the other side of a bath, sleep and change, much like the self satisfied little lordling the trio initially met. Catching the impromptu assembly as the evening hours creep up, and hearing just enough to discern some spectre of Kate’s laconic frustration with waiting, he inserts himself into the discussion.

“The delay is unfortunate. But if it leaves you restless, Kane, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind passing some moments sparring.”

The child trots over to a closet of no obvious purpose, whose doors open to display a variety of interesting sparring weapon analogies - shapes of swords, knives, spears and pole arms with felt “edges” and squares of blue chalk to dust them, presumably to leave distinct impacts on those struct. Immediately he claims a knife - the second of four on the rack, for some reason - and begins chalking it.

“My tutors have mostly been of the kind who practice defending by evasion. I have precious few opportunities to practice with genuine armored opponents.”

[Molan]

== CHAPTER 3: THE HOUSE OF WAYNE ==

Four o'clock rolled around and twilight began to shine through the haunted, empty windows of Wayne Castle.



Spoiler, Damien and Kate roused from their rests, and eventually made their way down to the Great Hall, finding Oracle there waiting for them, latent arcane energy quietly radiating off of her body, more felt than seen.

The hall was gloomy and grand all at the same time. It wasn't quite abandoned or inhabited, shabby but intimidating all at once. Great pillars lined the huge cathedral like ceiling on either side, and long tables ran down either side of a great, ornate, but badly worn carpet. The party could almost see the ghosts of visitors and family members who once sat at these tables for great feasts, now little more than echoes of a time long past. Several massive chandeliers hung suspended by metal chains from the peak of the ceiling, hanging down silently over the whole area. Along the ceiling, starting from the doors near the entryway and leading up to the Lord's dais, long iron poles jutted out from every other pillar, and on some of these, the banners of House Wayne vassals hung, still splendid, if a bit dusty.

Nearest to the great chair were a pair of sigils, one recognizable and one not. On the left was a gray banner, emblazoned with a great golden "W"; the icon of the Merchant's Guild. To the right of it was a much more obscure house sigil, one not belonging to any noticeable noble house. That pattern continued in the next row; on the right was the black banner and crimson direbat sigil of House Kane; to the left, another black banner, but this one emblazoned with a blue bird of prey, a completely unknown family crest.

The rest of the banner poles had been stripped empty; there were six poles in all, all of them clearly where banners had once hung, but had been since taken down. There were clues to what had once been there in the strands of fabric that had been left behind, stuck to the metal after many years of being displayed; a white cloth here, purple there, black here and blue there. The only other insignia left in the haul was in the very back, hanging on the far wall above the Lord's Chair. It was a gray banner, emblazoned only with a single, black direbat at it's center.

Damien danced around the center of the hall, daring Kate to spar with him. While he tried to pair off, Oracle and Spoiler took in their surroundings.

"I thought the Wayne Sigil was gray and blue; with a yellow moon behind the bat?" Spoiler wondered aloud.

She wasn't much one to pay overly too much attention to what the nobles were up to, but that banner had flown over Gotham long enough that most people recognized it, at least in passing.

"It was." Alfred said, entering almost silently through the great doors behind them. "But the yellow after Lord Wayne departed, House James was elevated from being the city's stewards to it's full sovereigns. The Moon of Gotholme was always considered to be the icon of leadership over the city. Centuries ago, when the Wayne's conquered this place, the necromancers who preceded them considered the moon that shown over these lands to be a source of magical power. The moon has been the emblem of the Lord of Gotham ever since. It shines over the Jame's black tower now. When Master Bruce returned, he adopted a new sigil to defer to their supremacy."

"Wow. So old Wayne just rolled over and took the demotion eh?"

Alfred smiled.

"Something like that, sure. In any case, the sigil change put the high lords at ease, gave us a bit of a lower profile. I feel like it's worked out so far. Wouldn't you say Master Damien?"

[MrAbdiel]

"I would have cut off my right arm if that's what it took to banish the inevitable circus of pomp and folly that comes with being relevant at court" the scion says with a lavish soaking of sarcasm on the phrase, as if mocking someone's more genuine use of the term. "If all it happens to take is cheaper color array at the tailors, then that's all the better." He offers this with a sidelong glance at Pennyworth, but without taking too much focus off Batwoman in case she decides to take up his offer and initiate the game in a single swing.

[Feathersnow]

"That makes sense to me. An aristocrat should be better than a peacock." She takes a practice stick.

"Okay, no powers or ki" she moves to a few paces of the young warrior and bows.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien looks surprised that she’s taken him up on it, but ain’t one to miss a chance. With a competitive grin, he takes a second dagger, chalks it, reverse his grip, and bows. “Right you are. First to three touches that don’t hit armor. En guarde, warrior.”

Spoiler: En guarde!

Show

I figure we’ll just roll some and then interpret the results, huh? Five rolls each, seeing what the story tells. Damien is going to be using full expertise the whole time, so his AC will be 25; and his attack bonus in melee will drop to 5. Here we go!

First Strike - (1d20+5)[24]
Second Strike - (1d20+5)[7]
Third Strike - (1d20+5)[12]
Fourth Strike - (1d20+5)[6]
Final Strike - (1d20+5)[17]

[Feathersnow]

The hoplite and the ninja square off. The nimbler of the two cheekily scores a hit in the first instant, only to be caught off guard from a blow from behind of the woman's stick as she backs up.

They dance around for a full minute, Master Wayne spending most of his time too far inside the veteran's reach for her weapon to be brought to bear, but catching a second hit during their circling.

Both of them are tired, the younger contestant from how mobile and focused he must stay, the larger from the shear effort of dancing in her armor.

[Feathersnow]

Kate is exhausted, and not used to fighting without the powers she carefully cultivated over years or the easy, re-assuring balance of her customized giant poleaxe. Had she either of thie things, this probably would have ended. As it is, physical exhaustion has met up with mental strain and she reaches a breaking point. She bursts into a sloppy but brutal form used by Paladins on crusades in the ancient days before House Wayne deposed the Necromancers and topples the child, finishing the form and nearly actually hurting him as her devilish bloodlust flashes in her eyes for a second and is repressed again.

She bows, unsure what to say.

[MrAbdiel]

Two “slashes” of blue chalk stripe his body, and it’s all he can do to keep inside the Batwoman’s reach and away from her broad, hewing strikes. Knowing he will lose the attrition battle eventually, the scion settles on a gambit that has served him before against larger foes - he feints high, then propelled himself into a knee-slide on the polished stone floor between Kate’s legs and pounces up with a backhanded slash from his left handed blade, torquing his body anti-clockwise to accomplish the swing. But Kate, it seems, is not so easily lulled; rather than stepping backward or pivoting, the normal response to something scurrying between your ankles, she steps forward, establishing distance so the ninja’s spinning blow cuts nothing but air, and her own turning strike catches him a swatting, perfect blow in the ribs that, had it been her poleaxe, would have sheared him in two. As it is, it just winds him, constitutes a third, winning blow, and leaves him folded on the floor like an old pillow, wheezing. He cannot articulate words immediately, but lets the daggers fall, and offers a reassuring thumbs-up.

[JbeJ275]

Barbara largely aquises to Kate's request to play nice though it's only grumbled out through gritted teeth, and she stays mostly quiet through the bout that follows, though her talents were very different she did appreciate the talent on display, and a little of the frustration left her face when the littlest lordling takes a strike. For all that he's young and allowed to be nieve in regards to some things the fact he evidently wasn't joining their halfway suicidal charge against half the cities crime out of any hope to seize power but instead ... What a boyish desire for excitement? No, that couldn't drive anyone like that, but if it wasn't a wish for respect or prestige that drove the kid, or a desire to grab power for some greater hope at enforcing change.

If the kid's mind wasn't so slippery she'd feel better here, as for all that they worked together being in the house of a negligent socialite, a respectable but clearly loyal and crossbow wielding old man and a hyper-violent child was bound to put her on edge, especially given she still couldn't understand why the child was so eager to practice such violent ats at so young an age.

[Molan]

" That was quite impressive," Alfred said. " I haven't seen young Master Damien receive a spanking like that in years. I'm almost beginning to feel like a negligent parent."

Kate held out her hand, extended her soft palm towards Damien and turning the barbed spikes on her wrist and forearm away from him. The little lordling hopped back up, looking red in the face from Alfred's chiding.

"Oh do cheer up Master Damien. I am only teasing. Besides which that was a particularly impressive showing against a veteran Chevaliesse."

"You fight well young one." Kate conceded. "Where did he learn that fighting style? He uses techniques I've never seen before, and I thought I'd seen everything in this city."

"Ah. Well," Alfred stuttered a bit. "Master Bruce learned a number of esoteric and exotic martial arts in his time away from Gotham. Besides which, I like to think that I've taught Master Damien here a few things that I picked up during my time with the Ranger Corps. "

Kate arched an eyebrow, looking surprised.

"You we're a Ranger? Where did you serve?"

"Sixth Legion, Second Rangers." he said. "I served during the Hills Campaign. Quite a long time ago now."

"Ah, then I missed you." said Kate. "12th Legion, First Rangers. You must have trained at Coldspire then."

"Ah yes," Alfred chuckled. "Twelve miserable months that was. Not sure why they had to headquarter the Ranger Corps somewhere so miserable."

"They said it'd make us tougher." Kate replied, sounding only half serious.

"Ah yes, well, I suppose they succeeded in that. It's funny, the whole time I was at Coldspire, I wished that I could just be sent out on campaign, as that would somehow be better. And once I actually found myself out there..."

"You only wanted to go home." Kate nodded.

"Ah well. Intemperance is the providence of youth, I'm afraid. Suppose that's something Master Damien and I have in common."

He turned towards the rest of the group.

"If it's all right with our guests, I'm sure you're all ready to get on with the business at hand. Dinner will be served in the library this evening, and we are prepared to discuss our plans to track down and destroy this menace that's plaguing our city. If you'll all follow me, we can get on with the main event."

[JbeJ275]

Barbara proceeds to the library, still tense but pleased that now at least they seem to be moving onto something productive.

[Molan]

Alfred led the party out of the Great Hall and down a separate corridor, away from their rooms, during which time Oracle picked out several more secret doors embedded in the Castle's architecture, though she declined to point this knowledge out.

Another flight of stairs led them to the library, a great, brooding, sprawling room with impossibly tall book cases and tables, desks, chairs and couches spread about in a dimm representation of shabby, worn luxury. There were several candelabras lit and a massive fire raged in it's central hearth, pushing away the cold chill that gripped the rest of the fortress. Near the hearth was a large, found, mahogany table, ringed with tall backed chairs, more than enough for all of them. In front of several of those chairs were hot meals and tall glasses of wine. Damien flopped into his seat and Titus quickly joined him, sniffing eagerly at the spread. The rest of the party followed suit, and Alfred sat down last.

In the center of the table sat the Codex Sanctus Celestialis, it's locked golden cover shimmering in the firelight. Now that they had time to get a good look at it, it wasn't immediately obvious how the strange book could even be opened; it didn't seem to have any readily recognizable key hole.

Before anyone had the chance to ask questions about the book, a hidden door somewhere off to the side creaked open, and Bruce Wayne finally walked into the Library.

He was tall, and ruggedly handsome, but somehow also somewhat gaunt, as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep in weeks. His powerful, muscular frame was draped in a fine, deep black tunic, and he wore black pants and black leather boots. His midnight colored hair was only slightly disheveled, having down around the sides of his face like a cowl, and he had a look of intensity in his eyes as though a great, pressing weight was bearing down on him. He walked towards the table and made his way around, to then unoccupied chair nearest the fire. Before he did sit though, he took a moment to bow and salute Kate.

"Dame Kane, it is an honor. Thank you for coming to our house; I apologize that I have not had the opportunity to meet you sooner. Your reputation as a legionaire and a knight precede you." he turned to address the rest of the table. "But I'm afraid other than my squire and these two Noble chevaliers I don't know anyone else here. Alfred tells me you two were instrumental in saving his life. I have to thank you for that."

He sat down, nothing at his plate but a glass of wine, which he mulled but didn't touch, instead looking out cautiously over their ad hoc gathering.